What is a Fashion Trend?

Mar 10, 2015

The word “trend” gets thrown around frequently, especially as it comes attached with a variety of meanings. In this article we will look at fashion trends, since they inevitably affect footwear preferences. As the use of such information is continually questioned in companies, understanding its core principles can separate the constructive opportunities from useless information.

A fashion trend is a color, cut or theme recognizably popular at a specific time period for a set consumer. Trends can be either emerging or current. An emerging trend is an identifiable repetition in cut, color or theme, which is not yet widely accepted or in fruition. This can be due to the season, an emerging trend could be for the future spring months over current winter gloom for example, or location. Historically, the runway determined emerging fashion trends due to its wide reach. With information, travel and purchasing able to easily cross boarders, this is no longer the case.

Runway still holds an unwritten respect amongst each that comes into the industry; however local influencers and independent bloggers have a greater reach these days. Street style blogs such as Tommy Ton or individual web sensations such as The Blonde Salad can disseminate information further, and faster than traditional publications. With the latter scrambling to figure out new online channels and individuals excited to share information with thousands, even millions, of followers, a single person can now set fashion trends across countries.

Trends are disseminating faster than before from online venues and fast fashion retailers such as Zara and H&M. From this, the time between an emerging and current fashion trend shortens from three seasons away to one. Current fashion trends are presently popular on the street. These greatly depend on locality. The popular shirt cut for the same level of consumer differs between Los Angeles and Berlin, for example. This is due to the exposure of information from an environment. Sure, online is important, but offline is still a tangible experience. Seeing something in person - or on a person - has a longer lasting effect than viewing it on a blog for 0.05 seconds.

A fashion trend can be emerging or popular, online or offline. It is just as important in identifying trends to do worldwide web research as it is to travel. With the amount of information available, understanding the end goal is crucial when identifying fashion trends. They can either be just another trend or an opportunity for a company, but knowing their composition is the first step.